Anger grows over 20 mph speed limits

Dringhouses Labour Councillor opposes consultation with residents.

Dijon Avenue Green Lane junction small 3

A Labour Councillor has claimed in the media that residents should not be consulted over wide area 20 mph speed limits. She says that most are in favour of the scheme.

The claim comes at a time when some residents are reacting angrily to having expensive signs erected on short cul de sacs where it is impossible to accelerate to even 15 mph.

In some areas, signs have already been vandalised.

The Councillors comment can only inflame public opinion and fails to acknowledge that, in some areas where the new limits have been imposed, the number of accidents recorded has actually increased.

The new Council, which will be elected in 2015, will have the unenviable job of deciding whether to throw good money after bad and have the signs removed.

Common sense says that the programme should be suspended. This would potentially save around £200,000 – money which could be spent on targeted accident prevention work.

The results of the new limits, already rolled out in west York, could then be assessed before the policy is thoroughly reviewed.

NB. In a poll of all residents living in the Westfield and Dringhouses wards, only 5% of respondents say that they favour a “wide area” 20 mph speed limit.

Lendal Bridge closure poll – Council trying to manipulate public opinion?

Lendal bridge - always been busy at 5;00pm

Lendal bridge – always been busy at 5;00pm

The Council are reminding everyone that they need to complete an “on line” survey to make their views known on the Lendal Bridge “trial”.

So far the Council have refused to release details of the results from the original questionnaire which had been available on their web site since last October.

Some of the questions have now been changed, so the intention clearly is to begin again and total the responses from a new (much later) base date.

Many who have completed the old survey may not know that they now  need to update their answers.

You can access the Council form  by clicking here

It takes about 3 minutes to complete.

Meanwhile the independent survey being conducted by the Liberal Democrats in west York is still showing that 88% believe that the Lendal bridge access restrictions should be lifted.

5% want  the restrictions to continue and 7% remain undecided.

More on York transport decisions – Monkton Road, Campleshon Road, Strensal.

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Monkton Road bus clearway

Bus clearway outside 31 – 35 Monkton Road as proposed

No waiting on Campleshon Road at the Lorne Street junction

Implement a shorter length of restrictions with the addition of an advisory disabled parking bay adjacent to 30 & 32 Campleshon Road

Strensal public footpath diversion

Public Rights of Way Strensall No 4 – Proposed diversion (part)

Alley closed, parking restrictions, ResPark etc – Summary of recent Council decisions

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Nunmill Street Bishopthorpe Road

Introduction of alley gate

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Osbaldwick Lane (school  entrance)

Enforcement action on parking on zig zag lines

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Malton Avenue and Irwin Avenue

Proposal to introduce a Residents Parking Scheme

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Newborough Street

Introduction of no waiting at any time restrictions on Newborough Street associated with the Burton Green Development.

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Nunthorpe Drive, Nunthorpe Crescent, Nunthorpe Gardens and Nunthorpe View

Introduction of a Resident Parking scheme

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Huntington Road

Action to prevent parking on the footway adjacent to the zebra crossing at 197 – 215 Huntington Road. Option A – Agreed to advertise a proposal to prohibit waiting on the verge/footway for the full length of the zig-zag carriageway marking with limited parking for the lay-by area.

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Labour highways maintenance scam revealed.

Labour are planning a “surprise” announcement next month, when they will “reveal” that they will spend an additional £2 million on highways resurfacing during the next financial year.

Highways expenditure Click to enlarge

Highways expenditure Click to enlarge

The announcement will be in response to the pressure, put on them by residents and the Liberal Democrats, who have criticised the cuts made in road and footpath repairs budgets over the last 2 years.

In total, £4 million has been cut from the repairs budget in an attempt to find funding for schemes like the repaving of Kings Square and the, largely unnecessary, £1 million street lamppost replacement programme.

Now Labour – for one year only – hope to return the budget to the £5.5 million level that they inherited from the last LibDem administration.

However, they intend to pay for the programme by borrowing more money. Already residents are facing over £1 million a year extra in interest payments – making Council Tax rises inevitable.

The figures also reveal that investment on de-icing roads and footpaths has fallen by more than half since Labour took over. Fortunately we have – so far – had a mild winter but we may not be so lucky in future years.

We hope that roads like Vesper Drive and footpaths like those on Huntsman’s Walk will now get, long overdue, resurfacing.

Vehicle charging points used only 60 times in 3 months

The York Council has confirmed that its 6 electric vehicles charging points were use only 60 times (in total) last year.

The charging points cost £30,000 to install.

The Council has been criticised for not running – in conjunction with the trade – an effective campaign promoting the use of electric vehicles.

Indeed its latest budget proposals could see the parking charge discounts, currently available for low emission vehicles, further eroded.

Lendal Bridge/Coppergate camera fine victims now exceed 60,000.

Lendal bridge notice60,414 drivers have been issued with penalty notices for driving on Lendal Bridge and Coppergate since new restrictions were introduced in August.

Of these 46,323 were caught by cameras on Lendal Bridge while 14,091 were photographed on Coppergate.

The numbers being caught in both locations increased towards the end of January.

The complete figures can be downloaded by clicking here.

Meanwhile the media are reporting that the Council has received £1.3 in fine income.

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“Big Brother” fears as more invisible policemen set to come to York?

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ANPR camera use to be extended

The Council has announced that it will use camera cars to enforce zig zag parking restrictions outside schools.

This is likely to be of limited value at some schools where some parents park on yellow lines, verges and block access driveways.

Use of such camera cars has been controversial in other towns and cities but  the vehicle may give some comfort to schools and their immediate neighbours.

Ironically the DfT is just completing its public consultation on car parking. One of the options being considered is to limit the use of CCTV cameras near schools!

More significantly in York, Labour Councillors are now proposing to extend the use of number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in the City.

ANPR cameras have been responsible for identifying over 50,000 drivers on Coppergate and Lendal Bridge, with fines totalling around £1 million already issued.

Clearly this potential cash cow has proved to be attractive to the Council.

It will decide later today to introduce camera enforcement of more bus lanes later this year with a target income of £50,000.

It is also budgeting to receive an additional £100,000 in 2015 from the  “Further introduction of ANPR enforcement measures across the City where network congestion can be improved”.

The budget papers published by the Council make no mention of how much revenue they except to raise from the continued use of the Coppergate (or Lendal Bridge) cameras during the next financial year.

Latest City centre shopper numbers – Lendal Bridge trial could go on and on and on

The Council has issued the latest City centre footfall figures.

The figures show more people visited Parliament Street during December and January this winter than in the equivalent period 12 months ago.

increase-footfall-retail

However compared to 2012, numbers are down by 9%.

The decline in shopper numbers is likely to have been influenced by the Councils decision to impose substantial car parking charge increases.

It appears that the “free” car parking day on Saturday did not produce the hoped for increases in footfall.

The numbers monitored on Saturday (1st Feb 2014) was 31,974 compared to the busiest Saturdays in the two previous years when 37,137 (2nd Feb 13) and 40,951 (28th Jan 12) people respectively were recorded on Parliament Street.

The full figures can be found here.

Meanwhile the Council leaflet, issued to residents, which talked about “Reinvigorating York” has been branded as misleading.

Claims made in the leaflet that, post the Lendal Bridge closure, “bus reliability had improved” are in conflict with the Councils own published monitoring reports.

The 4 month monitoring report (another is now due covering the period to the end of January) shows that changes to bus journey times have been insignificant although the majority are taking longer to complete their journeys.

One (the number 7 Park and Ride link to the Designer centre) showed an increase in delays of over 3 minutes during December.

The leaflet hints that the Councils Leadership does not intend to suspend the closure at the end of the 6 month trial on 28th February.

Rather, they are now intending to prolong the ”trial” until they analyse the monitoring data which has been produced.  The Council have declined to say how long this backroom analysis will take.

Meanwhile the latest survey results continue to show 79% opposed to the Lendal Bridge closure, 7% support it while 14% remain undecided.

92% say that traffic congestion in the City is getting worse.

The number of PCNs issued on Lendal Bridge and in Coppergate had reached 53,420 by the end of last year according to official figures published on the Councils web site.